On May 16, 2020, the Joint Order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the Ministry of Health was published in the Official Gazette with measures to prevent contamination with the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and to ensure safe work at work and health at work, during the state of alert.
I have extracted from the normative act a series of important provisions from the content of the following articles:
You can consult the full version of the Order here.
Employer obligations:
Art. 1. – (1) During the state of alert, in order to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and to ensure that the activity at the workplace is carried out in conditions of occupational safety and health, all employers in the public and private sectors implement the following measures:
a) retrain all workers who stayed at home during the state of emergency, technical unemployment, telework, home work, etc. in the field of occupational health and safety. The retraining must be adapted to the new risks posed by SARS-CoV-2 infection and will take place during the workers' normal working hours;
(…)
c) determine the activities that can be continued and/or adapted, depending on their specifics and available resources, and implement the necessary measures to resume and/or maintain the activity, subject to compliance with the measures to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, including for carrying out the activity in a telework regime or work at home - which may remain a priority;
d) identify the risks specific to the conditions of epidemiological contamination and update the risk assessment document for the security and health of employees to the new conditions of activity, in order to take the necessary measures to combat the spread of SARS-CoV-2;
e) establish consultations with the representatives of employees with specific responsibilities in the field of safety and health at work and, as the case may be, with the members of the Committee of Safety and Health at Work;
(…)
g) inform employees, primarily by electronic means, about the risks of infection and the spread of the virus, about the protective measures and social distancing rules that apply within the unit, as well as about the rules for managing situations in which employees or other persons who have access to the workplace show symptoms of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus;
h) inform employees about the universally valid precautions:
- maintaining a social distance of at least 1.5 meters in all public areas;
- maintaining rigorous hand hygiene, with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or with approved disinfectants, whenever needed;
– avoiding touching the face with unwashed/undisinfected hands;
- maintaining respiratory hygiene: cough and/or sneeze (in the elbow pocket or in a disposable tissue), rhinorrhea (in a disposable tissue). After use, the disposable tissue will be thrown into the waste collection container and hand hygiene will be performed immediately;
- limiting contact with other people to a maximum of 15 minutes, at a distance of at least 1.5 m;
i) can provide specific individual protective equipment against the spread of the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus (protective mask, gloves) by consulting with the person in charge of safety and health at work, depending on the specifics of the activity;
(…)
l) can individualize the work schedule of employees (as opposed to employees from vulnerable groups) who work in closed spaces, so as to reduce, as much as possible, depending on the nature and specifics of the activities carried out, direct contact between them, without to affect the duration of the normal work schedule;
(…)
n) provides special access to the premises and circulation for employees, in order to avoid crowding at workplaces;
(…)
q) designates a person responsible for checking the temperature of all persons entering the unit/institution;
r) ensures the observational triage of employees by checking their temperature at the start of the work schedule and whenever necessary during the schedule;
(…)
u) interrupt any contact between the employer/employee/other persons within the premises of the unit with a symptomatic person;
v) apply strips marking the recommended distance (1.5 meters) in workplaces where work with the public, for people waiting in line to enter the premises, recommending, as far as weather conditions allow, that people who wait in line to stay outside the building, also at a minimum distance of 1.5 m;
(…)
ab) avoids using the air conditioning system or, if it is necessary to use it, ensures the nebulization and disinfection of the air conditioning system according to the manufacturer's instructions, outside of working hours; ac) permanently provides soap and hand sanitizer in the restrooms, changing rooms and dining rooms and installs posters with the correct way to wash hands;
(…)
ae) limits trips outside the workplace only to situations where they are strictly necessary for the performance of the activity and ensures that, when it is necessary to do so, the employees travel with the provision of minimum prevention conditions;
af) it is ensured that the circulation of documents in the institution/company is carried out predominantly by electronic means;
ag) review the prevention and protection plan, according to the mentioned provisions;
ah) review their own occupational health and safety instructions, according to the mentioned provisions, and bring them to the attention of the employees.
(2) Special measures in case an employee is suspected/confirmed of infection with the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus:
a) employees with respiratory symptoms (coughing, sneezing, rhinorrhea, etc.) and/or fever higher than 37.3°C and/or general altered state, appearing during working hours, will be immediately isolated from the rest of their colleagues and sent at home or at health facilities, depending on the person's condition; in the vast majority of cases it is not necessary to close the offices/building;
b) if the time interval in which the employee/suspected/confirmed person was in the premises is shorter than 7 days:
i) close all the rooms where he spent a long time (over 20 minutes);
(ii) before the end of the program, mechanical ventilation of the room will be ensured (opening the windows);
(iii) to limit the exposure of cleaning personnel to respirable particles, it is delayed
performing cleaning and disinfection for 24 hours. In the situation where compliance with this interval is not possible, cleaning will be postponed as much as possible;
c) if more than 7 days have passed since the employee/suspected/confirmed person was in the premises:
(i) no additional cleaning/disinfection is required;
(ii) routine cleaning and disinfection measures are maintained;
d) the persons with whom the employee/suspected/confirmed person came into prolonged contact (more than 20 minutes, at a distance of less than 1.5 m and without a mask) are informed and their home isolation is imposed for 14 days, with these people monitoring for signs and symptoms of respiratory infection.
Obligations engaged:
Art. 2. – During the state of alert, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, all employees in the public and private sector are obliged to follow the measures below:
a) comply with all the instructions set out in the prevention and protection plan and the own occupational health and safety instructions drawn up by the employer to prevent the spread of the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus;
b) wear protective masks to cover the nose and mouth at workplaces organized by employers;
c) they can exchange their protective equipment used on the way to work (mask and gloves) with new equipment;
d) accept the body temperature check upon entering the premises, at the beginning of the program and whenever they return to the premises;
e) notify the employer immediately if, at the beginning or during the working hours, he presents symptoms of infection with the SARS CoV-2 virus (cough, sneezing, rhinorrhea, breathing difficulties, fever, altered general condition);
f) stay at home if, before starting the work schedule, they show symptoms of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and notify the employer about this;
g) immediately contact the occupational medicine doctor in charge of the unit/family doctor or, if his condition is serious, the single emergency service 112;
h) in case of the necessity of isolation at home, the employee will go on medical leave, based on the certificate issued by the family doctor after the period of isolation at home;
i) in the case of institutionalized quarantine, the return to work will be done with the certificate for medical leave, issued on the basis of the epidemiological opinion issued by the public health department of the county where it operates/municipality of Bucharest, at the end of the quarantine period; public institution/authority employers fully bear the social health insurance allowances related to their employees' quarantine medical leave certificates;
j) any contact between the employer/employee/other persons within the premises of the institution and the symptomatic person will be interrupted;
